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Speaking as a Devils fan starting in the mid 90s. I am sure there were some bad ones pre-Lamoriello.

Lamoriello hasn't made many deals that have really hurt the franchise at all. It's the deals he hasn't made that you could argue have hurt the Devils with impending free agents but even that's a stretch.

If the Mitchell-O'Donnell is the worst Lou has done, that's pretty damn good. But that might be the worst one that I can remember.

I've never liked Lou's deadline depth defenseman moves, but even then he didn't give up much to get them (Klee for Suglobov, Skoula for a 5th, Havelid for Salmela).

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Pat Verbeek for Sylvain Turgeon is probably the worst one Lou ever did - Stephane Richer for Lyle Odelein is also up there.

Richer's career was almost over at that point, so it's hard for that to be a bad trade. Richer plays one more decent season and Odelein, while not beloved, is good enough to play 3 decent seasons for the Devils.

Turgeon was flipped after 1 year for Claude Lemieux, so Turgeon was never able to put things together, due to injuries, but he seemed to have nice trade value.

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I think this thread is doing a pretty good job that Lou rarely makes any horrific trades. Most of the bad trades listed don't have much real impact.

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Sylvain Turgeon was cool as sh!t. He broke his stick during a practice back at SMA and he gave it to me. I was standing by the bench watching and he was like, "Hey buddy, want a stick?". I just thought that was awesome. I was only like 16 or 17 back then so it was really cool to me.

Sylvain Turgeon was cool as sh!t. He broke his stick during a practice back at SMA and he gave it to me. I was standing by the bench watching and he was like, "Hey buddy, want a stick?". I just thought that was awesome. I was only like 16 or 17 back then so it was really cool to me.

Probably the only memory I have of the guy though.

Turgeon had developed a reputation as a lazy malingerer with the Whalers, and a guy who didn't exactly bust his ass to get back on the ice when he was hurt. When he came to the Devils, he went on and on about a new start, how things were going to be different, etc. Lou apparently saw all he needed to see from Turgeon in his one season here (think he scored 30 goals and had 17 assist in something like 66 GP), and couldn't trade him fast enough...but he had just enough potential that he kept getting chances and had some value...many thought that he was actually more physically gifted than his brother Pierre.

Claude Lemiuex three way deal.

That was due to a contract dispute...unfortunately the Devils got the worst player in the deal in Steve Thomas. I would've liked to have seen what Wendell Clark might've done as a Devil.

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I mean, it made sense at the time, I doubt anyone had any problems with it. Devils got their coveted second line center they had been longing for, and didn't mind losing a prospect because they had Palmieri, Tedenby, and others who they thought could might an impact. And then the season went to the sh!tter.

Arnott performed pretty well actually, I think he led us in goals the first half of the season. Just sucks to see Halischuk crack the NHL while Palmieri was a bust and Tedenby is looking more and more like it everyday.

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A forgotten bad one was Walt Poddubny (who became washed up overnight) for Joe CIrella and Claude Loiselle, who were still productive role players for many years to come...plus a draft pick that turned into Alexander Karpovtsev

A forgotten bad one was Walt Poddubny (who became washed up overnight) for Joe CIrella and Claude Loiselle, who were still productive role players for many years to come...plus a draft pick that turned into Alexander Karpovtsev

a 2nd round pick for Esa Tikkanen was also pretty bad

Poddubny made great sense on paper, but his back (and it happened out of nowhere) killed his career. I remember he had 2 goals thru the first two games of the '89-'90 season, and Turgeon had 4 (Including a hat trick in the first game of the year).

Tikkanen simply didn't want to be here, which is why his career lasted all of 9 games or so, but Lou gave up a third rounder for him (from St. Louis I think) and got back a second rounder when he traded him to Vancouver. So basically a third-rounder for a second-rounder.

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I mean, it made sense at the time, I doubt anyone had any problems with it. Devils got their coveted second line center they had been longing for, and didn't mind losing a prospect because they had Palmieri, Tedenby, and others who they thought could might an impact. And then the season went to the sh!tter.

Arnott performed pretty well actually, I think he led us in goals the first half of the season. Just sucks to see Halischuk crack the NHL while Palmieri was a bust and Tedenby is looking more and more like it everyday.

Halischuk is a fringe NHL player riding a hot streak shooting-wise. Plus the Devils traded Arnott for Steckel and a 2nd rounder, and then they dealt Steckel for a 4th rounder. Would be nice to have Halischuk around but he's not very good.

People forget that the year before, the Devils had Rob f-ing Niedermayer playing center. And he was abysmal.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Triumph

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Tikkanen simply didn't want to be here, which is why his career lasted all of 9 games or so, but Lou gave up a third rounder for him (from St. Louis I think) and got back a second rounder when he traded him to Vancouver. So basically a third-rounder for a second-rounder.

Yep, a 78th overall for a 38th overall. Not a bad turnaround, really.

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That was absolutely heart breaking. I hated Lou for a while after that. I was 15 and granted, I didn't understand the business side as well as I do now, but even now I think it's heartless. I mean... for Jocelyn Lemieux??

That was absolutely heart breaking. I hated Lou for a while after that. I was 15 and granted, I didn't understand the business side as well as I do now, but even now I think it's heartless. I mean... for Jocelyn Lemieux??

Lou tried shaking up the '96 team a few times throughout the season (they started fast, then went into a general malaise for much of the rest of the year...they went .500 in their last 78 games, after starting 4-0)...nothing he did seemed to get the team going that year...he tried to spark the offense with Andreychuk and Housley. Richer in particular had a dreadful season that year...turned out, unbeknownst to almost everyone, he was suffering from depression.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Colorado Rockies 1976

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That was absolutely heart breaking. I hated Lou for a while after that. I was 15 and granted, I didn't understand the business side as well as I do now, but even now I think it's heartless. I mean... for Jocelyn Lemieux??

I'm in the same boat. Was about the same age (two years younger, if my math holds up) and lived in Brick, went to Dowd's Cup(less) parade at Brick High and his eventual Cup party at Monmouth Park that summer. The guy was a hometown god. Then, boom. He gets shipped to Vancouver right before the holiday. Absolutely crushing. I think I still have the newspaper clip with him boarding the plane after getting dealt.

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I'll never forgive Lou for trading Terreri... twice. I even wrote him a letter to explain my shock and contempt after the first one. Pretty sure He wanted out so he could actually play, but what 11 year old is going to be reasonable?